


All Alone (With You)

by KaraMergen



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-06 01:45:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1839817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaraMergen/pseuds/KaraMergen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Sibyl System doesn't exist, but Kagari is still a problem child, and Choe is... Choe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Alone (With You)

**Author's Note:**

> This work features a disabled character who is portrayed from the point of view of a young and slightly immature man. For this reason, some parts may come across as insensitive or inaccurate. Also, it takes place in a non-futuristic AU, which is why Choe's prosthetic eyes don't actually allow him to see.

His neighbor next door is a tall, slender Korean immigrant whose prosthetic eyes are always hidden behind shades. Rumor has it that he lost his real eyes during his army service; other people claim that he had them removed due to ocular melanoma. Kagari is not good with medical terms, and in any case, he thinks that prying into other people's lives is rude - not that Kagari himself is a paragon of tact, not by any means, but still.

Somehow or other, Choe always recognizes him. Maybe he is really that good at telling people apart by the sound of their footsteps - this is how blindness seems to work in fiction, at least - or maybe Kagari is just exceptionally noisy. No matter what it is, they end up talking in front of the mailboxes almost every morning. 

"Ah, hello, Kagari-san," Choe says with a small smile that may or may not be completely artificial. "How are you? I heard you singing last night and enjoyed every second of it."

Kagari sighs and turns deep crimson: the walls in their cheap apartment building are paper-thin, and Kagari himself is - well, sometimes he expresses himself by humming a tune or yelling at the characters in his video games. It isn't his fault that he isn't eerily quiet like some other people. "Sorry," he mutters. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"Oh, it's alright, Kagari-san," Choe's smile grows wider. "You have such a sweet youthful voice. Really. You could be an idol if you put your mind to it."

Kagari lets out another deep sigh and finally opens his mailbox: all it has inside is an ad from a local pizza delivery company, which Kagari is not terribly interested in because if there is one thing he is truly proud of, it is his talent for cooking, though their pizza admittedly looks pretty decent. "You know," he says, "I can never tell whether you're hitting on me or just messing around."

"Both, actually," Choe answers without a trace of embarrassment or discomposure in his voice. "But mostly I'm just happy to have a lively, energetic neighbor like you."

Kagari crumples the paper absent-mindedly and stuffs it into his pocket. "Funny that you say it," he chuckles dryly. He doesn't feel like telling his entire life story to Choe, who is twenty years his senior and probably far too preoccupied with his own problems, but words just tumble out of his mouth on their own accord. "My father was _thrilled_ when I moved out of his house. I was his biggest failure. Or something. Can't remember what he said back then."

Choe leans thoughtfully on the stair rails. "My old man disowned me, more or less. I… think," he responds in the same nonchalant manner. "We haven't seen each other for decades, though I doubt that his opinion on me has changed since then - if he is still alive, that is," he adds with a chillingly hearty laugh. "But you're making me curious, Kagari-san. Were you a teenage delinquent? A juvenile criminal in the making? Don't tell me you simply fought over your grades."

Kagari snorts, though not in displeasure, at Choe's strange outburst of excitement. "Sorry, Choe-san. It's a long story, and I need to go to work."

"Sure," the Korean agrees readily. "But I'd love to discuss it with you later, perhaps in the evening, over a bottle of beer. Or wine. How does that sound?"

Kagari rolls his eyes at Choe's straightforward offer. It is almost amazing that he only ever gets asked out by middle-aged men - one middle-aged man, in fact, and not beautiful young women or at least average-looking young women. There must be some karmic explanation for this, Kagari thinks, and yet, somehow, it doesn't bother him quite as much as it logically should. "Yeah?" he replies. "And then you'll try to kiss me when I get too drunk?"

"Absolutely," Choe says with grave seriousness. "That's the point. But first we'll talk."

"Okay." Kagari turns around on his heels. "So today evening it is, then. And I don't care if you are… if you can't see, I'll kill you if you make a move on me," he blurts out quickly.

"Actually," Choe replies, "I don't _want_ you to care that I can't see."

As they both leave the building, the bleak November sun slips behind a leaden cloud, and Kagari tells himself that perhaps people don't necessarily need to like each other in order to hang out sometimes; he zips his jacket, pulls his cap down and heads towards the train station.


End file.
